Daily Archives: September 23, 2011

Sebastian Vettel assumed top spot for second practice for the Singapore Grand Prix.

Unlike first practice, the troublesome damaged kerbs were removed in between the two sessions, and will be replaced overnight.

While on the soft tyres, Vettel was in complete control of the running order, leading by up to an entire second. After most drivers switched to the super-softs, Fernando Alonso challenged the Red Bull.

Lewis Hamilton aborted several runs before finally taking 3rd place. Felipe Massa was 4th, with Mark Webber 5th. The rest of the field were over 2 seconds behind Sebastian.

Jenson Button’s session was prematurely ended, after the McLaren made a mistake at Turn 14, and was unable to engage reverse gear to return to the track. The Briton finished the session 10th.

Sebastian Buemi was the only driver to make major contact with the wall, taking off his front right suspension and wheel.

Lewis Hamilton was fastest in a reduced first practice session in Singapore.

The session was suspended for half an hour at the beginning, as plastic sections of the kerbs were peeling away from the track. Once the track was repaired, the time limit was reduced to 60 minutes instead of the usual 90.

An extremely dusty track then slowed the cars down for much of the hour, before Lewis Hamilton set a 1:48.599 to take first place.

Mark Webber made contact with Timo Glock, the Red Bull failing to pass the Virgin at the final corner, and damaging the front wing. Mark pitted for repairs, while Timo was left with a puncture.

A bolt breaks off a kerb halfway through the session

At the halfway point of the session, Heikki Kovalainen had a spot of deja vu, as his Lotus caught fire for the second year in a row in Singapore, this time due to an overheating front left brake.

After a red flag to remove the Lotus car, the stewards were forced to stop the session again with 8 minutes to go, as a bolt broke off another kerb. A green flag allowed the cars to attempt one last run, but Lewis’ previous time was left unbeaten.

Sebastian Vettel was second, with teammate Webber a further second behind. Jenson Button split the Ferraris, who went 4th and 6th. Renault abandoned their bodywork and sidepod adjustments due to overheating problems, leaving Senna and Petrov 16th and 18th.

Narain Karthikeyan drove Vitantonio Liuzzi’s HRT for readjusting to the car before he drives at the Indian GP, and was just pipped by Daniel Ricciardo in the final few moments. Both HRTs were 10 seconds off the pace of Hamilton by the end of the session.